His Birthday
by TotalCSIfan
Summary: Sometimes birthdays bring up painful memories. Please read and review!


Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI

His Birthday

"Hi Nicky, how was your night?" Jackie asked him as he walked through the door and plopped down on the couch.

"It was alright." Nick told her but the tone of his voice led Jackie to believe that wasn't true.

"What's wrong?" She asked him.

"Nothing."

"Something is wrong, now what is it?" She insisted.

"It's his birthday." Nick finally said, his voice was so quiet she could barely hear him.

She thought for a second. _Warrick _she said to herself.

"Honey I'm so sorry." She told him as she walked behind him and kissed his cheek and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Me too Jacks." He said.

"I wish there was something I could do to change what happened." She told him.

"I wish every day that things could be different." He said.

She lovingly patted his shoulder.

"People say it gets easier with time but that's a lie, every time I see something that reminds me of him, all the grief, pain, and anger comes back. It's the worst feeling."

"That's why when you're reminded of him you have to try very hard to focus on all the good times you shared with him and not about how or why he died." Jackie told him with a slight smile, she walked around and sat gingerly on his lap and gave him another kiss on the cheek.

"I try to do that, I really do, but it seems like I always end up either really sad or really angry."

"Well, whenever you are reminded of him, force yourself to think of a good memory of him, like how much two loved watching sports together or how you two would always bet on your cases or how you guys would always cover for one another when one of you wanted to duck out of work early."

That got Nick to smile slightly.

"Don't let what happened to him ruin all of the great times you shared together, that's not fair to Warrick."

She gently kissed his lips and then started to get up off of his lap but he pulled her back.

"Thanks Jacks." He told her as he kissed her.

"Where are you going?" She asked him as he got up off of the couch.

"I'm going to take a shower and then I'm going to head to the cemetery."

"Do you want me to go with you? You shouldn't go alone."

"No, I'll be fine, I want to go there to think about things."

"Ok." She told him.

Before long Nick pulled into the cemetery. As he walked to Warrick's grave he noticed he wasn't the only one that came to visit him that day. Catherine was kneeling in front of his grave.

He thought about going home and coming back later so he could give Catherine some privacy but as he got closer to the grave he could hear her crying.

"Cath." He said as he walked up behind her and laid a hand on her shoulder.

She jumped.

"It's alright, it's just me." He told her with a smile as he sat down next to her.

"Nicky." She told him before she buried her face in his shirt as if she was a small child that needed comforting from a bad dream.

"It's alright." He told her as he gently stroked his good friend's hair.

Tears welled in his own eyes.

"I'm so sorry Catherine." He told her softly.

After a few minutes had passed Catherine removed her face from his shirt, the two friends sat at their fallen friend's grave without saying anything.

Nick finally broke the silence.

"Do you remember the time Warrick convinced you to go on that hotel roller coaster and how scared you were?" Nick asked her with a laugh.

"Yeah, I wanted to strangle him, and then on the ride I was screaming my head off and he had the nerve to laugh at me, he's lucky he was belted in the ride or I would have pushed him out of his chair."

Nick laughed.

"Do you remember the time you told Grissom you had the flu and so Warrick covered for you and then Grissom caught you in the casino with that girl you were dating at the time?"

"Ha, I had forgotten about that, Grissom was surprisingly cool about it, he just asked me sarcastically if I was feeling better and then walked away."

"How about the time that you and Warrick set up that trap to catch Greg in a net, poor Greg thought he was going to a crime scene and before he knows it he's trapped in a net."

"Poor Greg my eye, he so deserved that. I just needed a few minutes of shut eye because I was pulling a double and so I crashed on the break room couch and before I knew it someone was shaking me, I open my eyes and there is Greg in a grim reaper mask, he scared me so bad I almost fell off of the couch. So Rick and I planned a revenge prank, I'll never forget the look on Greg's face when we trapped him in that net."

Catherine burst out laughing.

Both she and Nick were having a good time, it felt wonderful remembering just a few of the countless awesome memories they had shared with Warrick.

When Nick went home around an hour later he felt surprisingly upbeat.

"Are you ok?" Jackie asked him immediately.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He told her with a smile.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, Catherine was actually with me at the cemetery and we reminisced about some of the good times that we had with Warrick. You were right Jacks, focusing on the good times with him really helps with the grief. Thank you."

"Of course." Jackie told him with a smile as she softly kissed his lips.

"Listen Nicky, if you feel up to it come to the park with us, we are meeting Tina and Eli. Tina called me while you were gone, she sounded like she was having a rough time today too so I suggested meeting us at the park just so she could get out of the house and not be by herself."

"Yeah, I never really considered what today would be like for her, I'm sure today isn't easy for her either, when Warrick died she became a single parent, that had to be incredibly difficult."

"Yes I'm sure it did, and despite everything that happened in their marriage I truly believe she really did love Warrick, and knowing Warrick I'm sure deep down he still loved her too."

Nick nodded in agreement.

"So are you going to come with us?" Jackie asked.

"Yep." Nick told her, he knew spending the day with his family would do him a world of good.

"Good." Jackie said.

"Would you hold the baby for a minute so I can run to the bathroom and then we'll go." She asked him.

"Come here little buddy." Nick said as he held out his hands so Jackie could hand him the baby.

Jackie passed him the baby and then went upstairs so she could use the bathroom.

"Who's that?" Nick asked Sloan as he pointed at a mirror on the living room wall.

Sloan grinned adorably as he looked at himself in the mirror.

"Who is that?" Nick asked the infant again.

The baby grinned and then babbled happily.

Nick laughed.

"Alright, I'm ready. Come on kids, let's go." Jackie told the other four kids who were waiting rather impatiently.

"Owie mama." Jasmine said as she pointed at her foot.

The child only had one shoe on.

"Is your shoe hurting you kiddo?" Jackie asked her.

She was surprised, Jasmine wore those shoes all the time and she'd never complained.

"Yeah." Jasmine told her.

As soon as Jackie looked at her foot she knew what the problem was.

"Well sweetheart, the shoe is on the wrong foot." She said as she picked Jasmine up and carried her to the couch.

Jackie put the shoe on the correct foot.

"Alright it won't hurt anymore, go put the other one on." Jackie instructed.

Jasmine did and then the family left.

As the family walked to the park a nice cool breeze blew. Nick noticed he no longer felt sad like he had earlier that day. Of course he would always and forever miss Warrick but with the support and love of his family and Jackie's helpful suggestion of focusing on the good times the two friends had shared Nick knew he would be alright.

The End!

**I am in need of story suggestions so if anyone has any I'd love to hear them! Send me a P.M with any ideas that you have. Thank you, and as always thanks for reading and reviewing!**


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